At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe is living in peace and prosperity. The “Belle Époque” is an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that are created and which evolve funnel both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It is within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction is invented. Early record labels send mobile crews literally all over the world to record local musicians. The range of the repertoire is endless. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favors polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also circulations in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolves dynamically and anisotropically, form a complex network of “centers” and “peripheries” in alternating roles setting musical idioms in motion, both literally and figuratively. The network in which the Greek-speaking urban popular song participates, constantly conversing with its co-tenants, is magnificent. Discography has already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between “national” repertoires. The result of this ongoing research is “Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography”.

Historical sources underline the close relations between Italian-speaking and Greek-speaking music. The conversations that developed with specific places, such as the Ionian Islands, the Dodecanese and Patras, as well as their results, are enough to highlight the strong ties between the two ethno-cultural groups. Furthermore, relationships were forged in places where the two ethnicities lived together, such as, for example, in the case of cosmopolitan Smyrna (Izmir) in the Ottoman Empire, or that of New York, where Italians and Greeks immigrated. When researching the historical material, it seems that one particular city in the Italian peninsula developed special relations with the large urban centers where Greek-speaking musicians played a leading role: it was Naples, with its famous Canzone Napoletana. This recording belongs to a corpus of songs from which the Greek protagonists borrowed music and/or lyrics from pre-existing Neapolitan-speaking songs. In many cases, the appropriations concern not only Neapolitan-speaking songs but the Italian language as a whole, since, often, the original Neapolitan-speaking songs were translated into Italian, from which the loan arose. These songs arrived at the Greek-speaking world either directly or indirectly, through other repertoire networks. In any case, the circulation of musics is already a reality before the 20th century with theatrical and musical performances tours, but also with the networks of music publishing houses. Discography is not only embedded in this context, but plays a key role in its transformation. The appropriation by Greek musicians is twofold: on the one hand are the lyrics, which are now in Greek (often, in fact, they have nothing to do with the original ones), and, on the other hand, are the performance practices: different instrumentation, different singing style, often differences in melodic and rhythmic forms but also in the harmonies. Greek musicians adapt what they hear to their own condition, based on their own capabilities. After all, the mandolins, the guitars, the marches, polyphonic song and the bel canto singing style are characteristics that reveal the influences of the Canzone Napoletana on the Greek-speaking urban popular song. It should also be noted that, in various cases, often due to the great international success of the songs, the network that is finally formed is extremely complex and does not only concern Greek-Italian relations.

The song "Me lismonises sklira" was originally recorded in Constantinople (Istanbul) by the Elliniki Estudiantina (Greek Estudiantina) between April–May 1907, and was issued under the label of Zonophone (X 104579) or Gramophone Co (4-14599) (in 1903, the Zonophone label was purchased by Gramophone), and re-issued by Victor (this record, VI 63553-A). The sound engineer Charles Scheuplein was in charge of the recording. On July 7, 1910, the song was recorded again, this time for Favorite, with the Estudiantina Christodoulidis (3982-t – 1-59039). This record was re-issed in America by Columbia before 1916 (E 6128. For the year see Kalyviotis, 2002: 115). This information comes from Dick Spottswood's work "Columbia Records E Series, 1908–1923". The mention of a name among the participating musicians is somewhat surprising: "Estoudiantina U. Christodoulidis & Bahtchevanoglou (male vocal trio)". In addition, Spottswood mentions Smyrna as the place where the recording took place, in contrast to the Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR), which mentions Constantinople.

The song is a Greek adaptation of the Neapolitan song "Chiariastella", set to music by Alberto de Cristofaro and lyrics by Aniello Califano (1870 – 1919). As Raffaele Cossentino mentions (2013: 206), it participated in the Circo delle Varietà song contest in 1892, but was rejected. The following year, in 1893, the song took part in a competition by "La tavola rotonda" (a literary, illustrated, music newspaper that was published every Sunday), where it stood out. In the same year, Diego Giannini presented it for the first time at the Salone Margherita with great success. According to the above source, famous singers, such as Elvira Donnarumma, Pasquale Amato, Raimondo De Angelis, Vittorio Parissi and Franco Capaldo recorded it later.

The first recording of the song probably took place in Naples on June 30, 1900 by professore Giandolfi (solo mandolin) for Gramophone (831a – 57362). The cover by Francesco Daddi (Victor 3811 and its re-issue under No. 62426), which was recorded in New York on March 5, 1908, is also worth to be mentioned.

The musical score of the song was published in Naples in the first decade of the 20th century by the F. Bideri publishing house.

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis